A
renewal of democracy should be the means to cleanse Latin America of its
history of corruption and abuses of power. But as the Mexican case shows,
unless democracy is extended by enhancing civil society, its promise will not
be realised.

Why
is Mexico mired in organised, drug-related murder? In an extreme case of
security dilemmas increasingly familiar elsewhere, the state has ceded its
monopoly of legitimate force to irregular security companies—and is now
considering legitimising vigilante groups.

The
superficial post-war dream that technology would solve the world’s social
problems has transformed into a nightmare of electronically enabled global surveillance
and suppression. Yet with consumer-oriented industries replacing the military
as the main driver of innovation, citizens are acquiring tools through which
they can co-ordinate their emancipation.

US drones are often thought of as focused
entirely on action against Al-Qaeda and associates, particularly in Pakistan.
But the CIA's expanding global net extends into the Pacific, linked to the
surveillance operations of the National Security Agency.

Far from being an instrument aimed at fighting crime and reintegrating former inmates in society, Mexican prisons act as a recruiting ground for the cartels. The lack of government response to this challenge illustrates its powerlessness in the war on drugs.

A side-effect of the war on drugs launched by President Calderon was to involve the army in carrying out police operations against gangs. However, this blurring of lines between both security institutions resulted in an increase in human rights violations.

World Forum for Democracy 2017

This year, the theme is ‘populism’. Is the problem fake news or fake democracy? What media, what political parties, what politicians do we need to re-connect with citizens and make informed choices in 21st century democracy?

Civil Society Futures is a national conversation about how English civil society can flourish in a fast changing world.Come and add your voice»

Full coverage of the non-hierarchical conference held in Barcelona on 18-22 June 2017.